After 23 years in the USA Eileen moved back to Ireland in 2015 with her US husband to help take care of her ailing mom. Relocating countries is a stressful process and getting your documentation in order can be a challenge in the best of times. When Eileen inquired about exchanging her US licence for an Irish one she was very frustrated to find that it was not possible to do.

The only option available she was told was to start over and do the same process as a 16 year old starting out. Needless to say this was not the answer she wanted to hear and reluctantly set in motion plans to take the 12 driving lessons required at that time.

This was like a deja vu for Eileen as she had lived in Germany back in the 80’s and had actually completed all of the lessons and first got her driving licence there One day as she was going through some old paperwork she found her old German driving licence. Examining it carefully she realised it did not have an expiration date on it...it was still valid!!

With cautious optimism she called the NDLS to see if it could be exchanged for an Irish licence and to her relief was told yes. Eileen felt at that moment like she had won the lotto!!

She would not have to do what her husband was in the process of doing, taking all the driving lessons and incurring a lot of expense to get her Irish licence.

Eileen’s story shows us the importance of having Driver’s License Reciprocity not only for European countries but also for the US so that many Irish immigrants who would like to move home can do so without running into these unnecessary barriers.

We support the work that the Driver’s License Reciprocity Committee is doing. If you or someone you know has been affected by the lack of driver’s license reciprocity, we would encourage you to share your story or get involved with our campaign.